Topic: Homer's epic poems greatly affected modern understanding of Greek mythology and culture
Odyssey." Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 1: Ancient Times to the American and French Revolutions (Prehistory-1790s). Detroit: Gale, 1997. 280-287. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
The Odyssey was the first greek text to be translated for use in Roman schools
The Odyssey is the only known text that details the steps used in the sacrificial rituals practiced by the ancient Greeks
According the the Odyssey when an animal is sacrificed it's horns should be dipped in gold, certain herbs should be scattered, and prayers to the God should be saud throughout the ritual
The Odyssey portrays a relationship between gods and worshipers where god come down in human form to speak with mortals and have a large impact on their lives
Sacrifice is considered the most prominent form of worship based of Homers books
According to the Odyssey the Gods are not responsible for things that happen to humans and that they bring misery upon themselves
The Odyssey portrays Gods as anthropomorphic, they can take any form they choose
In the poems, Gods often disagree, for example in the Odyssey Poseidon is trying to prevent Odysseus from returning home while Athena trys to help him
The Odyssey show many family dynamics in ancient Greece such as the Family group called an Oiko
In an Oiko the most prominent male was the leader and the Oiko included every person or animal that fell under his protection, such as his wife, children, and the family's animals
The Odyssey tells how a woman can only be the leader of an Oiko if her husband is gone and her sons are too young to be the leader
It also tells how many suitors came to court Penelope, when she was forced to be the leader in place of Odysseus while her son came of age, in the hopes of becoming the new leader of the Oiko and gain all of Odysseus's wealth
When Telemachus, Odysseus's son, came of an age when he could lead the Oiko, he would have been able to marry his mother to whoever he wanted or send her back to her fathers Oiko
The Odyssey also tells about Greek customs for marriage, which are more practical than legal or religious
If a man and woman in ancient Greece acted as if they were married everyone considered them married, likewise if they stopped acting married and the woman when back to her fathers Oiko that was basically a divorce
In marriage the woman always has the option to leave her husbands Oiko (divorce him) whenever she wants
In the Odyssey, Odysseus visits the underworld and speaks with many spirits of the dead
In order to speak with the spirits Odysseus must first let them drink some of his blood
He speaks with many Greek heroes as well as people he knew and all of them portray the underworld as a dark, gloomy, despairing place
The Odyssey give the names of the four mythic rivers of the underworld, Grief Flood, Fire Blast, Wailing Stream, and Loathing Water
"Iliad." Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Vol. 1: Ancient Times to the American and French Revolutions (Prehistory-1790s). Detroit: Gale, 1997. 166-173. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 Dec. 2010.
A German businessman named Heinrich Schlie-mann discover Troy claimed to have done it using the descriptions in the Iliad
The Iliad refers to the characters not as Greek but as the Greek speaking “Achaeans,” “Argives,” and “Danaans.”
Who were originally from western Asia and invaded the Mediterranean
The Iliad tells about how the Trojans were horse breeders
The gods are described as normally having a human form but can change into any other shape at will
The people in the Iliad believed that the Gods affected every part of their lives and any misfortune that befell them was because they had displeased the gods or failed to complete the proper rituals
The Iliad tells that they believed every persons fate was decided at birth and they could not stray from their fate for the rest of their lives
One's destiny was decided by the three Fates, daughters of Zeus
A large part of the Iliad was about Achilles fate to either die with ever-lasting fame at troy or live a long, happy, un-glorious life
According to the Iliad a priest of Apollo called upon the god to punish the Achaeans when they took his daughter captive and Apollo spread disease among them
The Iliad show different gods taking sides in the war and helping their side fight
Woman of the poem are treated like prizes and are controlled by the men show how Greek culture considered woman
Other wrightings supported Homer's description of how woman were treated at the time
The Iliad is the oldest known piece of Greek literature
The Iliad and the Odyssey are the only remaining of eight poems that tell the entire story of Troy
these eight poems were called the Epic Cycle
Only Homers poems survived because he was regarded as the greatest of poets
The Iliads description of many Greek groups coming together to defeat a common foe help unify Greece in Homer's time
In Homers time each part of Greece had it's own version of the Greek language and gods
Homer created a group of Gods that could be common to all of Greece by using come from many different areas and removing them from all the regions and placing them on mount Olympus
Nassaar, Christopher S. "The Tithonos Myth in Homer's "Odyssey" and Virgil's "Aeneid"." Explicator (Vol. 68, No. 3). Jul-Sep 2010: 149-150. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 03 Dec 2010.
Virgil modeled his books after Homers poems and the mythology used in them
The Odyssey tells a Greek myth about a man who fell in love with the Dawn goddess and was granted eternal youth by her but not eternal youth so he aged into dust which is a well known myth
Sarkissian, Robert. "Homer (c. 850 B.C.)." Island of Freedom. 2000: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 03 Dec 2010.
No one really knows who Homer was
there are many theories none are generally agreed upon
Most of the ancient Greek stories were passed down through oral tradition
Many times stories were changed each time they were repeated
Some people believe the Iliad and Odyssey were compiled of many different authors works
The traditional story is that Homer was a blind poet that lived during the time of the Trojan wars
Archeological evidence suggests that Homer lived much later
Homers techniques were borrowed by many other Greek writers
Many later western writers were also influenced
Many used Homers works as a comical target as much as a role model
Shelmerdine, Cynthia W. "Homer." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2010. Web. 3 Dec. 2010
Homers poems also refer to social conditions in his time as well as the time the poem is set
Evidence in the ruins of Troy confirm many thing said in Homers poems
Homers poems were used as text books for Greek children to learn to read and write as well as learn about Greek mythology
Over time the poems were copied many times and most times slight changes were made
starting about 300 BC scholars at the great Alexandrian library in Egypt tried to correct the changes
around the 1860s there were three canadate sites for Troy
These included Bunarbashi, Hisarlick and Alexaandrian Troas
Hisarlick turned out to be the site of Homer's Troy
Heinrich Schlieman proved it was Troy in1870
Jewsbury, Lewis. "Greece, A History of Ancient Greece, Homer and Troy." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. 1992. Web. 07 Dec. 2010. http://history-world.org/homeric_legend.htm.
In the 7th century BC Homer's epic poems were considered by the Greeks to detail their actual history
Most ancient Greek culture and history was lost when the Mycenaean civilization was destroyed
Katerina Schmidt Mr. Shupp English 9 12/8/10
Homer
One of the most fascinating of the ancient civilizations is that of the ancient Greeks. While greatly intriguing, we still know very little about it because many texts and other things that might tell us more about ancient Greece were destroyed at the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Among the oldest surviving pieces of Greek literature, Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as many smaller poems, provide useful insights into the culture and mythology of ancient Greece. No one knows for sure who Homer was; the traditional belief is that Homer was a blind poet bard who wandered Greece in the time of the Trojan War telling stories. Archeological evidence suggests that Homer lived later, during the Greek “dark ages.” Also he makes references to social conditions of the time and the lifestyle of the “lowly farmer or artesian.” Though some people don’t believe Homer existed at all. Many people believe the Iliad and the Odyssey were a compilation of many different authors’ works. It is generally agreed upon that before the poems were written down they were repeated many times through oral tradition. Unfortunately in oral tradition the story is recreated at each telling so every time it changes some which means we will never know what the original story was. Even after they were written down they were changed many times. From 300 BC to 100 BC, scholars at the Great Alexandrian Library in Egypt worked to try and return the poems to their original form. In the 7th century BC, Homers poems were considered the equivalent of history books for Greeks. In fact the Iliad and the Odyssey were used in Greek schools as textbooks to teach children mythology and writing. The books help to unify the many small city-states of Greece since each had its own variation of Greek language and its own names for gods. The epic poems gave a standard language and used gods from each of the city-states. Also the Iliad sent a message of unity through the many separate parts of Greece coming together against a common enemy. Actually the two epics were parts of an eight part series called the epic cycle that told the entire story of the Trojan War, yet they are the only ones to survive, probably because Homer was regarded so highly as a poet. Many people say that the events in the poems occurred so long ago we cannot be sure they are accurate, but archeological evidence has only supported it. In 1870 the ruins of Troy were found by Heinrich Schliemann, who claimed to have used descriptions in the Iliad. In the ruins of the 7th city to built on the site there was evidence of it being violently destroyed around a time frame matching that of the Iliad. The artifacts found in the ruins all supported the things Homer said about Greek culture. One important subject discussed in Homer's poems was the role of women in ancient Greek scociety. In the Iliad woman are treated as property and often refered to as "prizes" and their fates are completely controled by the men. The Odyssey shows the structure of family units called Oikos. An Oiko consits of a man, his wife, his children, and any other people or animals that fell under his protecction. The leader was normally the most prominant male, the only time a woman could lead an Oiko was when there was no male old enough to leader, such was the position of Penelope while her husband Odysseus was away until her son came of age. Homer's epic poems perserved a lost culture for future generation to learn about. The also opened the door to an entirly new writing style and have shown their influence on western literature even to this day. Authors from around the world have used Homer's poems both as models and as comidic targets, like Virgil. The Iliad and the Odyssey are arguably the most influnsal writings in history and help to shape Greece into the country it is today, so what?
Katerina Schmidt
Mr. Shupp
English 9
12/8/10
Homer
One of the most fascinating of the ancient civilizations is that of the ancient Greeks. While greatly intriguing, we still know very little about it because many texts and other things that might tell us more about ancient Greece were destroyed at the fall of the Mycenaean civilization. Among the oldest surviving pieces of Greek literature, Homer’s epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as many smaller poems, provide useful insights into the culture and mythology of ancient Greece.
No one knows for sure who Homer was; the traditional belief is that Homer was a blind poet bard who wandered Greece in the time of the Trojan War telling stories. Archeological evidence suggests that Homer lived later, during the Greek “dark ages.” Also he makes references to social conditions of the time and the lifestyle of the “lowly farmer or artesian.” Though some people don’t believe Homer existed at all. Many people believe the Iliad and the Odyssey were a compilation of many different authors’ works. It is generally agreed upon that before the poems were written down they were repeated many times through oral tradition. Unfortunately in oral tradition the story is recreated at each telling so every time it changes some which means we will never know what the original story was. Even after they were written down they were changed many times. From 300 BC to 100 BC, scholars at the Great Alexandrian Library in Egypt worked to try and return the poems to their original form.
In the 7th century BC, Homers poems were considered the equivalent of history books for Greeks. In fact the Iliad and the Odyssey were used in Greek schools as textbooks to teach children mythology and writing. The books help to unify the many small city-states of Greece since each had its own variation of Greek language and its own names for gods. The epic poems gave a standard language and used gods from each of the city-states. Also the Iliad sent a message of unity through the many separate parts of Greece coming together against a common enemy. Actually the two epics were parts of an eight part series called the epic cycle that told the entire story of the Trojan War, yet they are the only ones to survive, probably because Homer was regarded so highly as a poet.
Many people say that the events in the poems occurred so long ago we cannot be sure they are accurate, but archeological evidence has only supported it. In 1870 the ruins of Troy were found by Heinrich Schliemann, who claimed to have used descriptions in the Iliad. In the ruins of the 7th city to built on the site there was evidence of it being violently destroyed around a time frame matching that of the Iliad. The artifacts found in the ruins all supported the things Homer said about Greek culture. One important subject discussed in Homer's poems was the role of women in ancient Greek scociety. In the Iliad woman are treated as property and often refered to as "prizes" and their fates are completely controled by the men. The Odyssey shows the structure of family units called Oikos. An Oiko consits of a man, his wife, his children, and any other people or animals that fell under his protecction. The leader was normally the most prominant male, the only time a woman could lead an Oiko was when there was no male old enough to leader, such was the position of Penelope while her husband Odysseus was away until her son came of age.
Homer's epic poems perserved a lost culture for future generation to learn about. The also opened the door to an entirly new writing style and have shown their influence on western literature even to this day. Authors from around the world have used Homer's poems both as models and as comidic targets, like Virgil. The Iliad and the Odyssey are arguably the most influnsal writings in history and help to shape Greece into the country it is today, so what?